Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Japanese Folding Book

With the opening of Dressed to Kill: Japanese Arms and Armor coming soon, our paper conservator has almost finished repairs to a Japanese folding book for the exhibition. Landscape with Warriors-Battle of Sekigahara is a 19th century book with hand painted illustrations that, when unfolded, is ­­­almost 11 ½ feet long. Its illustrations include soldiers wearing armor similar to the samurai suits that will be shown in Dressed to Kill. The front and back halves of the book had separated and needed to be reattached. The folded page is made of four layers of thin Japanese tissue paper, so our conservator carefully separated the two inner layers, then inserted a strip of thin paper to serve as a hinge to join the separated parts. The book can now be unfolded to its full length, showing all of the battle scenes as a single painting. See more of Landscape with Warriors-Battle of Sekigahara when Dressed to Kill opens February 11, 2017.